December 25, 2007

Artist Discovery: Battles

Perhaps this is a tentative step back into blogging after yet another hiatus. Either way, the single “Atlas” from Battles’ LP Mirrored is one of those songs that I suspect a lot of people simply won’t grok, for lack of a better term. It’s prog-rock at its most rhythmic, with a pulsing drum that accentuates…oh, just watch it yourself:

I can understand how off-putting it might be to those trained on top-40 blandness. For sheer exuberance and stomp-along thrill, however, it has my vote as single of the year. It’s as addictive as my favorite song from last year, Kasabian’s “Shoot the Runner”: